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First Impression: Gal & Dino

Sometimes dinosaurs can be a premise for hilarity, as in this magnificent Calvin and Hobbes strip. Sometimes absurdity can also be a premise for hilarity, as in the literary classic Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.

This is not one of those times. Gal & Dino centers on a so-called dinosaur. The titular gal is Kaede, who, as the show opens, wakes up and states that she got drunk last night and brought the alleged dino home with her. The episode is a series of unrelated vignettes whose only common denominator is the dino; much of the time, Kaede isn’t even on screen. Here, let me share the funniest moment of the episode:

It was somewhat amusing…the first time. But they managed to fumble it by recycling the same gag just a few minutes later, like so:

Yes, both those screenshots are from the same show. Why do you ask? On an unrelated note, keep your ears open for the random lightsaber sound effects the dino’s arms make. What? I’m serious. Also, there’s this:

Gal & Dino is amazingly bad. There’s no story. There’s no character development. The part at the beginning that’s actually animated features ugly visuals and choppy, unnatural motion. It reminded me of ugly old American cartoons like The Simpons or Rugrats (or at least the snippets of those shows I remember glimpsing back in the ’90s). That said, much of the episode involves live-action scenes with real actors, or scenes with claymation figures. The show embodies this trope; the only plausible alternative I can devise for its origin is that perhaps some dementors from Azkaban created it. The other day I reviewed Listeners, and found it bad, but in a mildly entertaining way. Gal & Dino is just plain bad; I couldn’t wait for the episode to end. If you’re looking for a real-life lesson about poor creative decisions, you might find this educational (?), but otherwise don’t waste your time.